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Audit: $450,000 in Middletown spending unchecked

Middletown Township Committee approves corrective action plan from 2012 audit which straightens out issues such as fire companies and first aid squads reporting what they've spent township money on, a payroll issue and having the committe take prompt action on change orders. part of this happened during a transition in CFO's, new CFO says none of these issues cost the township extra money

Audit: $450,000 in Middletown spending unchecked

Story Highlights

Township Committee members approved a corrective action plan from the 2012 audit with six recommendations including one which requires fire companies and first aid squads to report how they've spent township money.

MIDDLETOWN – The township says it now ensures that it reviews its volunteer fire companies’ and first aid squads’ expenditures, after an auditor found the agencies didn’t report their spending for at least a year.

The Township Committee on Monday approved a corrective action plan that requires fire companies and first aid squads to report how they’ve spent township money. The change was among six recommendations an auditor made based on deficiencies included in a 2012 audit report.

In the 2014 budget, Middletown allocated $200,000 to volunteer first aid companies and $247,500 to volunteer fire departments. The companies are required by state statute to annually report to the Township Committee how the money was used.

But the audit said that no documentation was available to show that the funds paid to the volunteer fire companies had been accounted for to the committee.

“In the past I don’t know whether it was required (by the committee), but it had not been submitted,” said Colleen Lapp, who took over as township chief financial officer in December 2013. “Since I came in, I asked for a spreadsheet showing all expenses, copies of invoices and canceled checks.”

Lapp replaced former CFO Nick Trasente, who left in 2013 to join Somerset County as its CFO. She said the fire and first aid companies began complying with the recommendation last August.

The committee also unanimously approved in its correction plan a proposal to take more prompt action on change orders to cover extra work by contractors.

A case cited in the audit involved an increase to an emergency contract for a contractor doing work after superstorm Sandy, Lapp said. A change order for that work was acted on retroactively.

The audit also found that the payment of payroll taxes wasn’t being confirmed electronically, and that the outside contractor hired to do the township payroll had not been properly authorized to make payments on behalf of the township.

The audit recommended that the township attorney review that contract to make sure the document was in compliance.

All the corrective actions have been taken at no additional cost to the township, Lapp said.

Behind the news

Township Committee members approved a corrective action plan from the 2012 audit with six recommendations including one which requires fire companies and first aid squads to report how they’ve spent township money.